Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake Hits Northwest US

Strong Quake Shakes US Seattle

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The earthquake that hit the Pacific Northwest of the United States at 10:55 local time (1855 GMT) is magnitude 7.0 on the open-ended Richter scale, reported the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado State.

Initial reports said 10 people were injured in the earthquake that shook the Pacific Northwest of the United States Wednesday, reports reaching here said.

The reports said a Seattle hospital in Washington State is treating 10 people for quake-related injuries.

The Seattle airport was closed, and the tower and other offices were evacuated, U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesman William Shumann said.

The FAA ordered a national ground stop for Seattle, which means no flights to the Northwest's largest city were being allowed to take off anywhere in the country.

Utility officials estimated that 17,000 customers in the Seattle area were without power.

The quake was centered 60 kilometers southwest of Seattle and felt across the region, as far away as Salt Lake City in Utah State, 1,100 kilometers away, and into Canada.

"Everyone was panicked," said Paulette DeRooy, who was in an elevator descending from the 15th floor of a Seattle building when the earthquake struck. She and several others scrambled out and onto a fire escape.

Screams erupted at a nearby hotel, where Microsoft founder Bill Gates was addressing an education and technology conference. He was whisked away as his audience bolted for the exits. Some audience members were knocked down by others trying to get out, and overhead lights fell to the floor.

Chunks of the facade of the Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle fell into the streets but hotel officials reported no injuries in the building which was constructed in 1924.